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“Yay! My first second steeping of a tea! If I decide to resteep other teas, I’ll probably tack the findings on to the end of the first steep results. But since my last review of Gunpowder was...”
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“Backlogging from last night.. Bad, I know.
I wasn’t sure whether to log this under Honeybush Mango or Gunpowder, since I went half and half with the two teas. This is now my new favorite...”
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From Adagio Teas

Green tea from the Guangdong province of China. Gunpowder tea, as the name implies, is made up of leaves hand-rolled into tiny pellets. These resemble gunpowder, and give this tea its distinct name. Continuing this bang-bang theme, our special-grade version of this tea is named after a year that saw lots of cannon action. Our ‘1812 Gunpowder’ produces a full-bodied cup with a hint of smokiness. And mixes well with peppermint to produce a popular ‘Moroccan Mint’ tea.

141 Tasting Notes

This is by far my favorite tea. I would not feel comfortable purchasing Gunpowder green tea any where else but Adagio. They’ve never failed me when it comes to my selection in Gunpowder. I drink at least two cups almost every morning.

I received two bags of this and upon cracking this baby open I initially thought that I didn’t like it, so I decided to take the unopened bag and give it as a housewarming present to my friend’s new apartment.

She didn’t have any pots or kettles unpacked, so I haphazardly microwaved a glass of water and plopped in a handful of leaves, waiting a few minutes and drank it straight-up, leaves and everything. I don’t know what I did wrong before this, but this was just delicious, even when it’s been steeping for several minutes.

Sweet, refreshing, and a tad buttery. One of the best Adagio greens I’ve tried in my limited experience with them, much better than the awful, spinachy taste I got beforehand.

This tea is gorgeous! I watched it steep and as the leaves unfurled, they took over a large amount of the teapot and looked like a crazy overgrown forest.

The second thing I noticed about this tea is the smell. The first thing that struck me was the smoky scent that reminded me of a campfire. I can understand the name of the tea now. I made enough of this tea to make two cups. One for the hubby and one for me.

It has a really light flavor, as one reviewer said, like spinach. I kind of like it. I think that I will try another cup before I decide whether to like it or not.

Preparation

The smokey flavor is pleasant, but it’s more grassy than I normally like. If this is normal for gunpowder, that explains my intense dislike of the Moroccan mint I tried recently. Smokey grass does not belong near peppermint in my book.

Going to give it a fair shake and finish the cup, then resteep to see if the grassiness mellows out.

ETA 4/22/13 – I think I was bad at taking the water’s temperature, and scalded the leaves. I’ve tried again—with more careful temp-taking—and not gotten bitter grassy flavor.

My first experience with gunpowder, and I am not disappointed. Tastes just like it smells. I only steeped it for 2 minutes but I believe 3 minutes will be better. It was excellent with a small amount of honey.

Preparation

Brandice gave me this tea to try because she is a fan of Gunpowder. I had not purchased any of this tea because quite frankly the name scared me. When I hear someone mention the name all I can think of is my grandpa in his gunroom with his gunpowder and that is not something I would ever want to drink. That being said, I also saw that so many people have said it smells of cows or tobacco and tastes smokey. From my new tea experiences, I am finding that if I don’t like the smell of a tea I tend not to like the taste so that also scared me and I’ve been warned of teas tasting like campfires or “smokey” as some called it which also is something I don’t like.

Now on to what I thought about the tea. When I opened the bag of tea, I thought it smelled like a good quality tea, not cow dung. When I brewed the tea, I still thought it smelled fresh and inviting. When I drank the tea I was pleasantly surprised with the way the tea tasted in my mouth and slid down my throat. I’m still new to this tea thing, but I can say in my opinion it doesn’t smell like pooh and it doesn’t taste like a campfire.

I really enjoyed this tea and look forward to having another glass. This is the first green tea I have tried.